This walkthrough is a special contribution that Len Green has graciously allowed us to host on our site. Adventure Lantern thanks Len for making the walkthrough available as soon as the game was released in North America.

Preface

This walkthrough is at present 'provisional' and although written in English should be applicable to the already released German version.
It’s doubtful that any updates will be necessary for the English version. If however any are actually needed, they will be incorporated as soon as that version is released.

Foreword

{A}

This walkthrough describes ALL the actions which you must take in order to succeed, together with some (though not all) which are not essential to completing the game.
However, please don’t use this walkthrough unless you absolutely have to. Some aspects which are not absolutely imperative have been omitted. A lot of these are interesting and provide much of the background story to the game, and particularly to the apparently genuine deserted English mansion.

{B}

“Warning” : If you simply take this walkthrough in your hand and follow exactly what to do and what not to do, you can probably finish the game very quickly. This however would completely defeat its whole purpose!

{C}

The walkthrough definitely does not do ANY justice to “Scratches”!
The most important aspect is the spooky scary narrative. I have deliberately refrained from giving away ANY of the actual story.
In addition, a great part of the fascination of the game is wandering around through the different locations in and around this old-world decaying Blackwood Manor.

{D}

Suggested Advice:
So as not to gratuitously spoil the game by seeing unnecessary hints, you can pinpoint the ‘area’ needed to a great degree through looking only at the date, day and time where you are stuck!
Also, instead of scanning the whole walkthrough, I recommend using a “Find” command-option, and inserting a relevant key word to greatly reduce the superfluous hints!

{E}

This is a first-person game and much of the intricacy and pleasure lies in browsing around … and as aforementioned there is a lot of that. I personally frequently ‘got lost’ looking for some location or object (even occasionally inside the mansion itself!), and sometimes after finding it, lost my way again on returning.
Due to the above fact I have frequently (but not always) given exact ‘direction-instructions’ in this walkthrough e.g. “Go forward twice”, “Swing a little to the right”, etc.
Often, where exploring is not too difficult (but sometimes not all that easy either), the player will only be told where to go, but not exactly how to get there, or even how to move around when actually there!

{F}

On entering every new location, it is pretty well essential to browse around and DO as much as allowable in every one.
However, the walkthrough never tells you explicitly to do this … it assumes you will ALWAYS automatically explore and expedite, and so it simply says … “Look around the study”, etc.

{G}

You should NOT have to follow the identical order of accessing locations as described in this walkthrough. Some locations of course will not be available or accessible until you have completed certain previous tasks, and so a particular order is sometimes obligatory. Other than this, you are free to visit (&/or revisit) as you wish !

{H}

Although the game is very spooky and sometimes scary, there are absolutely no action sequences, and you never get killed. There is no overt violence and absolutely no so called ‘bad language’ or ‘adult material’.
It is all first-person and mouse driven point & click. There are full English subtitles for ALL speech, and a veritable abundance of texts for all hints and comments.

{I}

Some items in inventory can be used one upon another.
As far as I am aware, if any item X can be combined with item Y, then the reverse is always true … i.e. item Y can always be used on item X instead!

{J}

As in most games, it is easy to make a wrong or redundant move! So it is advisable to save frequently.
There are 10 save-slots. If you like, you can save batches of up to 10 ‘permanently’ (zipping if you like) before overwriting … for the next batch of 10.

Walkthrough

Day - 1 (Saturday, October 12th)

Watch all the introductory scenes

Saturday 9 am

Walk forwards to the front door of the mansion

Try opening the front door. You can’t it’s locked

Take the key from inventory, and use it on the keyhole

Open the front door and enter the mansion

Start looking around the reception hall

The telephone starts ringing. Answer it

Talk to Jerry

Enter the living room

Look around the living room

Read the diary on the table

Enter the study

Look around the study

Look at the desk

Read the diary on the desk

Open the 2nd drawer down on the left side

Take the empty envelope

Close the drawer

Open the 3rd drawer down on the left side

Take the tool for boring holes (an awl)

Close the drawer

Enter the dining room

Look around the dining room

Exit the dining room and into the small hallway

Go up the back stairs (2 flights … from the ground floor to the 1st floor)

Go 1 step forward and then swing to the right

Walk the length of the 1st floor lower hallway

Enter the guest room … “I quickly realized that this had to be my room.”

Look around the guest room

Look in the waste paper basket

Read the single hand written page there

Look at the doctor’s medical bag

Open the doctor’s medical bag

Take the stethoscope

From inventory, take Michael’s (heavy) suitcase and place it on the corner table

Open the suitcase and examine all the contents

Look at the calling card belonging to Jerry (P. Carter)

Take the pen

Look at the scribble on the scratch pad

Look at the book … “Vanishing Town” by Michael Arthate

See the book’s frontispiece

Look at the 4 page letter from Jerry to Michael

Take the matchbook (with only a few matches)

Close the suitcase

From inventory, take the typewriter case and place it on the desk

Open the typewriter case

Take out the papers in the case … they appear on the desk

Take out the typewriter … it also goes onto the desk

Close the typewriter case

Place the typewriter case on the floor (beneath the table)

Look at the typewriter

Attempt to write something … Michael prefers to continue exploring

Read the page already typed

Saturday 10 am

Exit the guest room

Walk along the 1st floor lower hallway

Enter the room on your left … it is the master bedroom

Look around the master bedroom

Exit the master bedroom

Enter the room opposite … it is the African gallery

Look around the African gallery

Exit the African gallery

Walk to the other end of the lower hallway

Enter the room with the stained glass panel … it is the 1st floor bathroom

Look at the built-in cabinet below the sink

Open the 3rd drawer down (the bottom long drawer, in the middle)

Take the relatively clean rag

Exit the bathroom

Walk back along the length of the 1st floor lower hallway

Go downstairs to the ground floor again

Go to the reception hall

Phone Jerry

Keep phoning him until he repeats the phrase “If you don’t mind, I have work to do”

Press the light switch in the main hall (or anywhere else)

The light doesn’t go on … there is no electric power

Press the light switch again to make sure … still no electricity

Phone Jerry and inform him about the electricity and learn that he has ordered an electrician

Saturday 11 am

Phone Barbara and talk to her

Continue phoning her until Michael says “Ah … never mind”

Go to the front door and open it

Exit the mansion

Walk down the length of the garden to the main gates … no electrician

Look at the mailbox

Open the mailbox

Read the letter from the electrician (take it … although it doesn’t appear in inventory)

Close the mailbox

Saturday 12 pm

Look at the boot of the car … which “I hoped I would never need to open.”

Open the car door and enter the car

Look at the car’s starter

Open the glove compartment

Take the car key

Close the glove compartment

Get the car key from inventory, and put it into the car’s starter

Start the car … Michael decides not to travel anywhere at present

Return to the mansion and enter

Phone Jerry and tell him that you missed the electrician

The following depends upon what actions you performed (and didn’t perform) previously, and hence may be somewhat different … but this should not affect anything!

Phone Jerry again and obtain 2 blue (‘unusual’) captions at the bottom of the screen … the top blue caption reads “I wondered about the previous inhabitants…” and the bottom blue caption reads “I asked about that safe”

Click on the top blue caption and Jerry mentions a murder committed there in May 1963, etc.

Phone Jerry yet again … “I found a safe box in a room upstairs.”

Walk to the back of the mansion

Look around the small hallway … notice the African jars

Open the door to the kitchen

Look around the kitchen … notice the key holder without any keys, and the table beneath it

Look at the one kitchen wall where there are 2 doors very close together

Open the right door. You can’t … “The door to what I assumed was the basement was locked.”

Open the left door … the maid’s (servant’s) room

Look around the maid’s room

Take the topmost paper (with markings on it) from those lying on the desk

Open the right drawer

Take the pencil

Look at the photograph (near the left corner and half hidden)

Close the right drawer

Open the door with the 6 rectangular glass panels

Look around that room … the maid’s bathroom which was once apparently used as a dark room

Open the tap … “Apparently, the water wasn’t running.”

Exit the bathroom/dark room

Exit the maid’s room

Exit the kitchen

Open the curtains in the small hallway

Look into the African jars

Take the key from inside one of the jars

Return to the kitchen

Using the key from inventory, open the door to the basement

Go down the stairs

Look all around the basement

Open the fuse box

Check the 2 fuses and the 2 old fashioned double-pole switches … they seem OK

Exit the basement

Exit the kitchen

Return to the front reception hall

Phone Jerry to tell him that the fuses seem all right … “Make sure you find some candles before it’s too dark.”

Phone Jerry again to tell him that he hasn’t yet found any candles … “Well… keep looking!”

Saturday 2 pm

In inventory, look at the paper … it “had several markings on it.”

In inventory, use the pencil on the sheet of paper with markings … “I managed to reveal what appeared to be a letter in Italian.”

Phone Barbara and ask her if she can translate an Italian letter … “Yes! Mail it!”

In inventory, put the letter into the empty envelope

In inventory, use the pen on the envelope to write the correct address

Exit the front door

Walk down the length of the garden towards the main gates

Look at the mailbox

Open the mailbox

From inventory, take the (Italian) letter and post it to Barbara

Close the mailbox

Saturday 3 pm

Return to the front door of the mansion

Open the front door and enter

Phone Jerry … he tells Michael to keep on looking for candles

Walk to the back of the mansion

Enter the kitchen

Notice the back door with a colored glass panels and to the right of it a cupboard with crockery on top

Open the cupboard

Open the bottom drawer

Take the kitchen knife

Close the bottom drawer

Open the top drawer --- it’s empty … apparently it was once used to hold candles

Close the top drawer

Exit the kitchen

Go to the dining room

Look at the is a nice piece of furniture (with a candelabra on top of it and also a painting of a house and flowers)

Open the drawer there … “Tablecloths, napkins… etc.”

Go up to the 2nd floor :- Go up the stairs … (if necessary) along the first floor lower hallway to the bathroom door … turn right … go up the stairs from the 1st floor to the 2nd [top] floor … You are in the upper hallway

Swing left

Walk forwards and notice the wooden ladder-stairs (brown steps)

Climb up the stairs and see the door to the attic

Enter the attic

Open the trunk to look for candles … none there

Take the old fashioned lamp

Look through the pile of assorted photos, papers, etc., which were underneath the lamp on the left side of the trunk

Look through the pile of assorted photos, papers, etc., on the right side of the trunk

Look at the pile of newspapers

Read the caption at the bottom of the screen “I looked for any worthwhile news in May, 1963…”

Click on this blue (‘unusual’) caption at the bottom of the screen

Read the “Journal” of Tuesday, 25th May, 1963

Saturday 4 pm

Leave the newspapers

Whilst you’re in the attic, open the music box

Click on the object inside the box

Click on the key

Close the box

Exit the attic

Return down to the 2nd floor, then down to the 1st floor, and finally down to the ground floor

Go to the reception hall

Phone Jerry … no candles anywhere in the house. Jerry suggests buying some … “Calm down! Drive to town before it gets dark.”

Saturday 6 pm

Exit the front door

Walk down the length of the garden towards the main gates

Enter the car

The key is in the starter (ignition) … turn it on

The engine turns over once only, and the red warning light comes on: “The car would not start! It was only then that I realized I had left the lights on…” … “The car battery was dead.’

Exit the car

Return to the front door of the mansion

Open the front door and enter

Phone Jerry … He can’t do anything at present

Saturday 7 pm

Look around the lower hallway just a little … “It was getting late. Perhaps it was now a good time to go to sleep.”

Go up the stairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor

Walk to the end of the lower hallway

Enter the guest room … “I was getting very tired”

Lie down on the bed and go to sleep

Day - 2 (Sunday)

Michael has a nightmare

He hears banging noises

[[ During his nightmare, Michael is ONLY ‘allowed’ to move as follows: ]]

(In this nightmare) he can only walk to the door of the guest room

Then open the guest room door and leave the room

Then he can only walk along the lower hallway and open the double doors into the African gallery

In the place where the display cabinet stood there is now (in Michael’s nightmare) a boarded up door and a hammer on the floor

All you can do is to look at the hammer … and ………

Pick up the hammer (it’s only a ‘dream-hammer’ and not real, and hence it doesn’t go into inventory)

The nightmare ends and Michael is back in the guest bedroom

Sunday 12 am

Michael wakes up from his nightmare, “I was awakened from my strange dream by some odd noises reverberating around the room”

Move around the guest room just a little … ‘The scratching was starting to make me feel very nervous…’

Walk towards the fireplace in the guest room … “The noises seemed to grow louder as I approached the fireplace.”

Look at the fireplace

From inventory use the stethoscope on the fireplace and move it around

Yes! Michael can now hear the noises coming from the fireplace …… “but I still couldn’t determine their source.”

Leave the fireplace

Go to the guest room door

Exit the guest room

[[ Since Michael is now awake, he can move around freely … although it’s midnight ]]

Go down the main staircase from the lst floor to the ground floor

Enter the living room

Examine the fireplace there

From inventory use the stethoscope on the fireplace

Conclusion :- About those noises … “I concluded they had to be coming from below”

Sunday 1 am

Go to the kitchen

Open the door to the basement … you can’t; it is very late at night and the basement would be pitch black since there is no electric power and you wouldn’t see a thing … “I couldn’t go down there without some light.”

From inventory, use the old fashioned lamp on the basement door. Impossible! … “The lamp didn’t have any oil in it.”

Return upstairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor and walk to the end of the lower hallway

Re-enter the guest room … “Just as they had begun out of nowhere, the scratching noises stopped”

Lie down on the bed and go to sleep (properly!)

Sunday, October 13th

Sunday 9 am

Wake up next morning … a fierce storm is raging; very heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Michael abandons hope of getting the power fixed

Return downstairs and go to the reception hall

The phone is ringing

Talk to Jerry about the terrible weather making it impossible for him to drive

Michael informs Jerry that “I happened to hear some odd sounds last night. Kind of… ‘scratching’ noises down in the basement.”

Go up to the 1st floor

Enter the main bedroom

Swing to the right, go 1 step forward, and swing to the right again

Look at the painting of the very tall woman in red …

Click on the orb in her hand revealing a safe with a rotary dial combination lock

The dial rotates automatically back and forth to the correct combination, (presumably:- 03 2 11) and the safe opens

View the contractor’s tender for work to be done on Blackwood Manor

See the key inside the open safe

Take the blue key

Go up the stairs from the 1st floor to the upper hallway in the 2nd (top) floor … as previously.

Swing round to your left and go to the single door

Open the door. You can’t since … “The door seemed to be stuck…”

Swing to the right, go forwards twice, and swing to the left … you are facing another single door (close to and ‘behind’ the wooden stairs you visited previously)

Open the door. You can’t … “The door was locked but I could see a key on the other side through the keyhole.”

Observe the bottom of the door … “There was quite a bit of light coming from below the door.”

Look to the left of that door … there is a tin on the floor with a newspaper underneath it

Take the newspaper

From inventory, take the newspaper and slide it under the door

In inventory take the boring tool (an awl) and poke the keyhole of the door

Inside that room, the key falls onto the newspaper

Pull the newspaper back … but the key does not slide out from the gap under the door; it gets ‘caught’ … “ ……… the key had gotten stuck behind the door. Whoever said that dumb technique worked?”

The keyhole is now ‘clear’

From inventory, use the blue key on the keyhole … the door opens and you are in the “room with paintings”

Sunday 10 am

Look at the stool in the room and on it a hammer

Take the hammer

There is a table in the room covered with painting materials and accessories … Look at the desk in close up

Look at the blueprint on the left side of the table

Click on it … “It was a schematic blue print of the ground floor of the house.”

Using the magnifying glass, examine each of the rooms (and their descriptions) on the ground floor

Click on the top left corner of the blueprint

Look at all the rooms (and their descriptions) on the first floor

To the left of the main bedroom is a ‘mysterious’ room … “That was odd, I didn’t remember seeing that room.”

Take another look at it … “I had to find some way to get into that room…”

Click again on the top left corner of the blueprint

Look at the rooms (and their descriptions) on the second (top) floor

Near the middle of the table is an empty drinking glass holding 3 pencils; to the right of it is a key (not too easily visible!)

Pick up the silver key

Beneath the key was a round gray-white object … “It was the lid of a can ……”

Pick up the lid

There is a large bizarre painting of a man with his mouth wide open, with one door to the left of it and another to the right … Open the door on the right

Enter the “room in construction”

Climb the ladder twice

Notice that “A large rope was hanging from a railing above”

From inventory, take the knife and cut the rope

Climb down the ladder

Look for the remaining coil of rope on the floor [[ swing right round … move once forwards, facing the door … then swing back again facing the ladder … move back a little (if necessary) … the rope is now easily visible on the floor ]]

Pick up the rope

Climb the ladder 3 times to get to the very top … “Several dusty cans were resting on the shelf, one of them in particular was more dusty than the rest.”

Examine the rectangular can … “A very dirty can.”

From inventory, take the rag “a quick cleaning revealed that it was a can of oil.”

Look at the can “There appeared to be oil in that can.”

From inventory, take the boring tool (an awl) and use it on the can … “I managed to pierce a hole in the can…”

From inventory, drag the old fashioned lamp onto the can of oil … it tips and “I poured some oil inside the lamp” ……”; but it was limited by the very small amount of oil there!

To the right of the can of oil look at a small oil can

Take the oil can

Climb down the ladder again

Exit the room … not via the door you entered through, but through the door onto the upper hallway (i.e. the door which was originally stuck on the other [ entrance ] side!)

Turn right around and go to the very end of the upper hallway

Climb up ONE flight only of the stone spiral staircase

Notice a window on the left

Open the window

Look out … and see the roof(s) of the mansion (and very heavy rain)

Climb up the second (final) flight of stairs to the tower

Look around the tower and see another window

Open that window

Again look out … and see a nice verdant view of tree tops (and extremely heavy rain)

Look at the walls … “There was a large crack in one of the walls in the tower”

From inventory, use the hammer on the crack in the wall … “The wall had a wider crack now” (You can see light coming through from outside)

Look at the old rusty lamp above the crack

From inventory, tie the rope to the rusty lamp

Click the bottom of the rope … it goes through the enlarged crack … “The rope was hanging from the hole in the wall”

Return to the lower window and open it (if not already left open)

Look through the open window and see a small portion of the rope at the top right corner of the window (not too noticeable!)

Click on this piece of rope … and the rope now hangs vertically straight downwards near the middle of the open part of the window

Michael ponders the situation … obsessed with the ‘mystery room’, even though endangering his life … “I decided that climbing down through the window was the only way to get inside the mysterious room…”

Sunday 11 am

Climb down the rope (in 2 or 3 stages)

Enter the window into the mystery room

Explore the room … it was apparently a nursery

Look at the chest of drawers

Open the top drawer

Examine the birth certificate … note ALL the details, dates, etc.

Close the drawer

Sunday 1 pm

Exit the nursery window

Return up the rope and back to the tower (again in 2 or 3 stages)

Enter the window back into the tower

Go down the stone spiral staircase to the upper hallway

Climb up the wooden ladder-stairs again

Enter the attic

Look at the newspapers

Grab a newspaper

There is now an additional blue caption at the bottom of the screen

“I checked if there was anything of interest in August, 1961…

Read the newspaper … Michael has serious and sinister doubts about past events in the Blackwood Mansion

Sunday 2 pm

Return down to the 2nd floor and then down to the 1st floor

Walk along the lower hallway

Enter the African Gallery

Walk to the display case and examine it … “A pair of huge carved tusks were occupying a corner of the gallery.”

There is a horizontal bar about a quarter way up the case. Pull the bar … “It wouldn’t move…”

Look at the bottom of the display case … it “seemed to have some kind of panel”

Remove the panel … no luck; “It was firmly stuck in place.”

From inventory, use the knife to prize off the panel

Look just behind where the panel had been … it “had been concealing a couple of wheels.”

From inventory, use the oilcan to oil BOTH of the two wheels (one at each end)

Again pull the bar on the display case

The display case swivels away from the wall

Sunday 3 pm

Now that the display case has been moved, go to the wall behind it. “The door was heavily barred…” … nailed up with wooden planks

“There was no way I could remove those boards with my bare hands.”

From inventory, use the hammer to remove the boards

Open the mysterious hidden door

Enter the room. Impossible! … “The room was too dark to see anything.”

In inventory, use the matches to light the old fashioned lamp

From inventory, use the old fashioned lamp on the dark opening. You can now see inside in the flickering lamp light.

Sunday 4 pm

In the middle of the storeroom inspect “An odd looking African mask ……”

There appear to be several bamboo poles covering the window of the store room. Move them away … “Now that there was enough light, I extinguished the lamp to save the oil.”

Look at and read the 3 pages of notes

Look at and read the 3-page letter to Christopher from James

Exit the storeroom

Exit the African Gallery

Walk along the lower hallway

Enter the guest room

Look at the typewriter

Click on it to insert a sheet of paper

Click on it again to type out a page of Michael’s novel

Extract the typewritten page

Look at the page … read it if you like!

Sunday 5 pm

Exit the guest room

Go downstairs to the main hall

Phone Jerry and tell him about your suspicions … “James Blackwood was into some very weird stuff… and possibly dangerous.”

Sunday 6 pm

Michael is feeling “unusually tired” from all “the events of this day” … “A good time to go to bed…”

Return from the ground floor up to the 1st floor

Enter the guest room

Lie down on the bed and go to sleep

Day - 3 (Monday)

Monday 12 am

Michael wakes up at midnight … “Something didn’t feel right…”!

Exit the guest room

Enter the African Gallery

Enter the storeroom … the Mask is no longer there

Exit the storeroom … see what happens

You are automatically transported back to the guest room! … “Once again, I was awakened during a bizarre dream by those scratching noises…”

Go to the fireplace and look at it

From inventory, use the stethoscope on the fireplace … “I had to find out their source…”

Exit the guest room

Go down from the 1st floor to the ground floor

Enter the kitchen

Open the basement door

Enter the basement. … Impossible! “The room was too dark to see anything.”

In inventory, use the matches to light the old fashioned lamp

From inventory, use the old fashioned lamp on the dark opening to the basement … it lights up but the old fashioned lamp is flickering (maybe its oil is running out?)

Exit the basement … “Finally, the last drop of oil inside the lamp had been consumed.”

Exit the kitchen

Go up from the ground floor to the 1st floor

Enter the guest room

Lie down on the bed and go to sleep (properly!)

Monday, October 14th

Monday 9 am

Wake up! It is now the 3rd day. The storm is over … there is no rain, thunder or lightning, and it is light outside

Exit the guest room … “It was incredibly cold inside the house now.”

Go down from the 1st floor to the ground floor … “I seriously considered warming up the place”

Exit the front door … No go! “…… it would be better to do something about the cold atmosphere before leaving the house.”

Enter the living room

Examine the fireplace … “I decided it was a good time to make use of that wood”

From inventory, use the matches to light the fire … “The wood was now burning nicely in the fireplace”

Monday 10 am

Exit the front door (again) … Not yet! “I decided to tell Jerry about my experience during the previous night before leaving the house”

Phone Jerry and tell him as much as you know about the bizarre situation

Exit the front door … finally

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

General instructions for traveling to the garage, greenhouse, and chapel.

(Instructions for traveling to the crypt, since somewhat different, are described later!).

[[ The easiest and least confusing way to outline the above is to start the description from just inside the mansion … even though it is not actually necessary to enter the mansion in order to travel to these locations. ]]

*** From just inside the mansion exit the front door

*** Click on the fountain

To the garage :-

Go forward and left

Turn left

Go forward twice to the garage

To the greenhouse :-

Swing a little to the right and notice a path

Click twice on the path

Swing to the right

There is a fork*** in the paths here (the origin of the fork is actually just below the bottom of the screen and hence can’t be seen properly!)

Go forward, swing to the right, go forward again, and again swing to the right

Look at the corner work table

Open the drawer on the left

Read the 2 pages of notes dated February 7th

Close the drawer

Open the drawer on the right

Take the shears “tailored for trimming plants”

Close the drawer on the right

Examine the plant … “The plant on the top of the table was strangely attractive”

From inventory, use the shears on the plant … “I took a few leaves with me.”

Leave the table

Walk round the upper floor walkway in an anti-clockwise direction

Take the spade … “There was a shovel in the planter but it was stuck in the soil.”

Look at the large hose lying on the walkway (you must approach it from the ‘correct direction’ otherwise it will not react!)

Grasp the upper free end … it embedded itself in the soil, near to the shovel

Grab the lower free end … it is now looped over the railing and stretches down to the ground floor below

Go downstairs

Swing to the right of the tree pedestal

Look at the tap … and notice the end of the hose

Examine the tap … “Apparently, the water wasn’t running.”

Leave the tap (and hose)

Exit the greenhouse

Go forward 5 times, swing to the left, and again go forward twice

Enter the mansion

Go to the kitchen

Enter the basement

Look around the basement walls and see a wheel on one of the large pipes

Examine the wheel more closely … “Try as I might, the valve was stuck and wouldn’t budge.” … “I couldn’t move the valve with my bare hands.”

From inventory, take your crowbar and insert it into the spokes of the wheel-valve

Try to lever the wheel open … no go!!

From inventory, take the hammer and bang the wheel (with the crowbar still in it) … the wheel turns

“I retrieved the crowbar as it could be needed elsewhere.”

Exit the basement

Exit the kitchen

Return to the front door

Exit the front door

Return to the greenhouse (see the directions/instructions above)

Enter the greenhouse door

Go to the tap again

Turn it on … the water is running now

Click on the end of the hose … it attaches itself to the tap

Go up the stairs

Go to the shovel … the water has softened the soil and the shovel has now been loosened

Grab the shovel

Go downstairs again

You probably noticed a glittering spot near to the tree pedestal and opposite the greenhouse door … approach and examine it

Notice that “There was some kind of shiny object beneath the grating.”

Look at it more closely

Try to grab the shiny object

“Whatever it was there was no way I could reach it.”

Go to the tap

Examine the tap again

Disconnect the hose

Turn the water on (it is quite likely to be running already!) … maybe it will flush out the shiny object??

Look at the location of the shiny object. No! It’s still there … maybe one of the drainage channels is blocked

Go to the overturned large pot with a bush … “A huge pot containing a bush had fallen, blocking the drain”

From inventory, take the shears and clip the bush … “I removed a few branches and leaves, clearing that corner of the drain.”

Look at the location of the shiny object. It has now gone … where to??

Exit the greenhouse

Go forward twice (as though you were going back to the mansion)

Swing round a little to the right and go forward twice again

Look at the pool in front of the large tree

Examine the pool … see the shiny object

Pick it up … it’s a small key

Monday 11 am

Return to the mansion (you may find it easier to return to the greenhouse first, although this is far from essential)

Enter the mansion

Go to the study

Look at the desk … and particularly at the drawer on the right

Open the drawer. You can’t … “It was locked.”

From inventory, use the small key to open the locked drawer

Read the 3-page letter to Catherine from Christopher

Look at the closed box in detail

It has a 5 figure combination lock on it. Unless and until you know the combination of this lock you can’t open it … so leave it for the moment!

Leave the box and close the drawer

Exit the study

Walk up from the ground floor to the lst floor

Enter the master bedroom

Look at the round mirror on the bedside table

Click a few times on the round mirror and watch it swivel up and down

From inventory, use the screwdriver to remove the round mirror from its framework

Take just the mirror itself

Exit the master bedroom

Go downstairs and into the kitchen

Walk to the crypt

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

General instructions for traveling to the crypt.

[[ The easiest and least confusing way to outline the above is to start the description from inside the kitchen of the mansion … even though it is not actually necessary to enter the mansion in order to travel to that location. ]]

Exit the back door

Go forward

Swing to the right until you are at the beginning of the ornate covered walkway

Go forward twice

Towards the left side of the screen go forward

Swing left a little (between 2 banks of brown earth)

Go forward 3 times

Go forward to the crypt

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Enter the crypt. Impossible! … “A thick wire was tied between both handles ……”. This makes it impossible to manipulate with bare hands

From inventory use the pliers on the wire

Open the crypt door and enter

Go forward

Look at and open the lower coffin … “A corpse in advanced stages of decomposition was inside the coffin…”

Close the coffin

Look at and open the upper coffin … “Curiously enough, this coffin was completely empty”

Look at the plaques beneath these 2 coffins … James T. Blackwood and Catherine Blackwood

Examine the plaques … “According to the plaques, both Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood had died the same year”

From inventory, throw the stone at the window in the dome (N.B. If you are not in the right position you cannot do this… you need to be close to the door of the crypt) … “I hurled the stone at the window but sadly, it missed it and bounced off the ceiling, flying out of sight”

Look at your inventory … indeed, the rock is no longer there

Go down the steps to the floor below

Examine everything there

Look at the tiny coffin … could it be a baby … “the dead child of James Blackwood.”?

Open this little coffin … No! Enough sights of decaying bodies

Look at the plaque beneath the very small coffin … it’s too dark “to make out what the plaque read.”

In the corner notice the stone which had finished up there

Pick it up

Go upstairs again

Look at your inventory … the rock is back there again

From inventory, again throw the rock at the window (N.B. If you are not in the right position you cannot do this… you need to be close to the door of the crypt) … this time the glass smashes into very small shards … letting in more light

Go downstairs again

There is a little more light now

Look again at the plaque beneath the small coffin … it’s still too dark to read it

Return upstairs

In inventory, attach the piece of wire to the mirror (or vice versa)

From inventory, fix the mirror with the wire to the candle holder which is to the right of the door of the crypt … the bright sunlight light is now reflected downstairs

Go downstairs again

Look at the plaque underneath the baby’s coffin … “The inscription was too eroded, but it seemed the name began with the letter ‘R’”

Return upstairs

Exit the crypt

Swing just a little to the right

Go forward 5 times

Swing to the right

Go forward along the ornate covered walkway

Walk up the steps to the back door of the mansion

Enter the back door of the mansion

Go right through the kitchen

Go up from the ground floor to the 1st floor, up again to the 2nd floor Go up the stone steps towards the tower (as previously)

Go up ONE flight only

Stop at the open window (if not left opened, then open it ), look out onto the rooftops, and see the rope still hanging down

Climb down the rope 4 times

Enter the window of the nursery

Look at the 6 bricks scattered on the floor beside the wheelbarrow

The 4 bricks on the left side spell out the letters ‘O’; ‘B’; ‘I’; ‘N’;

This would appear to be the last 4 letters of the baby’s name … i.e. “(R)obin”

Note the numbers on the tops of the blocks … 6 (or 9), 0, 9 (or 6), 7

Leave those blocks and examine the blocks inside the wheelbarrow … Remember the first letter of the child’s name? … “R”!

Indeed, the 2nd block from the left on the 3rd row down (partly hidden by the handle of a toy) IS the letter “R”, and its number is 5

Leave the blocks and the wheelbarrow

Exit the nursery through the window, climb back up the rope, and enter the window to the tower (as previously)

Go down from the tower to the 2nd floor, and then to the 1st floor, and then down to the ground floor

Enter the study

Look at the desk and open the drawer on the right side

Click on the box and look at the combination

Assume that the combination IS the numbers associated with the name of the child … i.e. the numbers associated with the word “Robin”

To enter the combination, position the ‘forefinger-icon’ onto each of the 5 tumbler-wheels in succession and keep clicking to rotate them. View the incrementing combination number for that tumbler-wheel at the bottom of the screen

As deduced from the blocks in the nursery, the correct combination to enter from left to right is … 5; 9; 0; 9; 7 (but either or both of the “9”s could be upside down … i.e. not a “9” but a “6”)

When you arrange the final correct number, the view of the combination suddenly automatically changes to a view of the box

Monday 12 pm

Click on the combination lock and the box opens

[[ To ‘deal’ with this box carry out the following steps :- ]]

Notice a ‘gate’ in the middle, and a small block at each end

Click once on the gate in the middle

Click on the block on the left side

Click twice more on the gate in the middle

Click on the block on the right side

Click on the bottom of the box itself … it opens

Take the heavily adorned key

Leave the box

Exit the study

Exit the mansion

Go to the chapel (see the directions/instructions above)

Enter the chapel. You cannot enter! … “The massive double doors leading to the interior of the chapel were locked.”

Open the door … they are locked

From inventory, use the heavily adorned key to open the chapel door and enter

Look around the chapel

Walk up the spiral staircase

Look at the cabinet

Open the cabinet

Open the fairly small drawer

Take the bible inside the drawer

Open the bible

Click 4 times on the pages … and reveal a heavy nail

Take the nail

Close the bible

Close the drawer

Close the cabinet

Go down the stairs

Go forward towards the mottled red carpet and the statue at the end of the chapel

Swing to the right

Go forward to the 3 chairs

Swing round to the left

Look at the ring on the gray-white (large tiled) floor … “It was some kind of small metal ring…”

Go forward

Swing right, and look at the top of the “large wooden statue of Christ”

Look at the board behind the head of the statue … “I’ve always wondered INRI means…”

Look down at the very bottom of the statue … there is a noticeable hole in the feet

From inventory take the heavy nail and insert it into the hole

Look again behind the head of the statue … “Something was curiously different about the INRI sign now.”

Deal with the sign … No! “I couldn’t reach it!”

Return to the ring in the floor

From inventory, use the crowbar to pull the small metal ring. See what happens to the floor … Interesting, eh?

Return to the INRI sign behind the head of the statue

From inventory, use the crowbar on the sign. WOW! … observe the surprising effect on the statue

Monday 1 pm

Go to and look at the floor… observe the square opened area

Enter the square opened area … down a ladder and into a secret room

Look around the secret room even though it is almost completely dark Observe a candlestick … “It was nearly impossible to discern anything in the secret room, but that seemed to be… a candle.”

From inventory, use the 2 remaining matches to light the candle. … it is very bright (but understandably flickers somewhat)

Examine the wooden table in one corner of the room

Take the piece of wood on the table … “The branch was very odd looking.”

Look at the 2 sets of papers on the table

Read the top set … a 3-page letter dated march 26th from Christopher to James

Read the bottom set … 6+ pages of notes about the African tribe Dhalmaar, and instructions for exorcising the cursed evil vicious god, etc.

MAKING THE AMULET (to be used on/against the malevolent mask) :- …… “Two main elements were required to perform the exorcising of this evil and they had to be strictly related to each other; one representing the “victim” and the other representing the “victimizer.”” …… These 2 elements have to be mixed with a rare medicinal plant native to the region …… Then they must be blended together ……

Finally the resulting substance must be inserted as a holder into the branch of a particular tree …… It is on this item that a mysterious blessing was performed” …… “It should be noted that all elements have to be organic”

Go to the ladder and exit the secret room

Exit the chapel

Return to the mansion

Enter the front door

Phone Jerry. Talk to him about the worrying and maybe serious apprehensions concerning the previous owner of the house … but “James Blackwood passed away on June, 1963.”

Walk from the ground floor to the lst floor, up to the 2nd floor, up the wooden stairs, to the attic (as previously)

Look at the newspapers

A 3rd line has been added (below the previous 2 captions) to the sentences in blue at the bottom of the screen … “I went through the news during June, 1963…”

Click on this line to continue (as previously)

Read the accusations made by Mrs. Eva MARIANI (former maid of the Blackwood family)

Note the written scrawl at the end of the newspaper article … “BAILEY 01665 65217”

Return down to the 2nd floor, then down to the 1st floor, and finally down to the ground floor

Go to the main hall

Access the phone and click on the third (blue) line down … “I dialed another number…”

Phone Bailey … 01665 65217

Have a long conversation with Mr. William Bailey, the former police chief of Rothbury, regarding the Blackwood’s subject. Mention James and Catherine Blackwood, Eva Mariani, Dr. Christopher Milton, etc.

Monday 2 pm

Phone Jerry … explain the situation to him. He warns Michael of potential dangers if he remains in the house!

Exit the mansion

Walk all the way down the garden towards the gates

Open the post box

Look inside and see the envelope

Open and read the 3-page letter dated April 28th. 1963 from Eva Mariani (former maid of the family) to her mother … translated from the Italian and mailed by Barbara!

Return to the mansion

Open the front door and enter

Go to the kitchen, and then through it to the maid’s room

Go to the bedside table close to the top of the bed

Look underneath the table

Notice a small floorboard (a bit different from the others)

Open the floor board

Examine the photograph hidden inside

Exit the maid’s room

Exit the kitchen

Walk through the ground floor to the front main hall

Phone Jerry. He warns Christopher again … “I’ve been thinking about what you told me…”

Exit the front door

Again walk the length of the garden to the front gates

Go to the post box

Open the post box

Look at the ‘scroll’ (lying partly on top of the letter observed earlier … and still there!)

Read the notice of eviction dated Oct. 12. 1976

Monday 3 pm

Go to the boot of the car and open it

Take the discharged battery

Walk to the garage (see the directions/instructions above)

Open the door of the garage and enter

Look at the bicycle … “There was an old and dusty bicycle in the garage. It seemed to have some sort of device attached to it.”

Look at the ‘object’ pressing on the rear wheel of the bike … “I realized that the device had to be a dynamo”

Operate the pedals of the bike, thereby rotating the shaft of the dynamo and generating a current of electricity … See the headlamp light up

“A small crate was sitting near the bicycle.” … From inventory, place the discharged battery onto the crate

Try to operate the pedals of the bike again, but this doesn’t work … “Having the cables connected first was probably a good idea…”

If you look carefully, there are electric wires going from the dynamo to the headlamp (these are rather difficult to see!)

Look at the dynamo

Use the dynamo … i.e. attach the wires from the dynamo to the battery (these are also rather difficult to see!)

Operate the pedals again … Generating a small current of electricity which partially charges up the battery (note that the headlamp no longer lights up since its leads are now disconnected!)

Take the battery (now with “a small charge”)

Leave the bicycle

Exit the garage

Return to the car

Open the boot of the car

Replace the (charged) battery to “the spot where the car’s battery was…”

Enter the car

Operate the ignition key … But Michael’s conscience won’t let him leave until he has dealt with the strange occurrences at Blackwood Manor

Monday 4 pm

Return towards the house

Start walking towards the chapel and go to the previously mentioned fork*** (see the directions/instructions above)

Click once only on the right fork (the one that leads to the chapel)

Very carefully swing just a tiny bit to the left and observe the shadow of the tower on the ground (it is not too easy to see this due to the relative lack of contrast … it is just immediately to the left of the path to the chapel and VERY close to that path!)

From inventory take the shovel. If you dig anywhere near this shadow but not EXACTLY ON IT you will simply get the statement “The soil in this area of the garden was devoid of life”!

However, from inventory, take the shovel and dig in the ground at the very top of the shadow of the tower (You must ensure that the mid-point of the shovel is on the top of the aforementioned shadow. If it is NOT, then you’ll just dig an empty hole in the ground, and may have to repeat 2 or 3 times!)

Uncover the “dead body of Catherine Blackwood ……… in this improvised tomb.”

Look at her poor skeleton. Something is wrong with her teeth; they jut out “at disturbing angles…”

Try to remove one of her teeth … “I tried to pull out a tooth without success.”

From inventory, take the pliers and extract one of her teeth

Monday 5 pm

Use the shovel which is stuck upright in the ground to fill in the earth back into Catherine’s crude grave … “I quietly left, burying Mrs. Blackwood back to her dead, cold dreams…”

Return to the mansion

Open the door and enter

Go up from the ground floor to the first floor

Enter the African Gallery

Look at the black statue with no head

Observe it closely … “something that looked like a lion’s claw was firmly attached to a necklace.”

From inventory, use the pliers to extract the lion's claw

Exit the African Gallery

Return downstairs from the 1st floor to the ground floor

Enter the kitchen

Look at the table … on it is “a nice, rustic, old-fashioned grinder.”

Open the grinder

From inventory take “the tooth that I shamelessly took from the cadaver of Catherine Blackwood”, and place it into the grinder

Close the grinder

Turn the handle

Open the drawer at the bottom of the grinder

Take “the remains of the tooth I ground…”

Close the drawer

Open the grinder again

From inventory take the lion’s claw, and place it into the grinder

Close the grinder

Turn the handle

Open the drawer at the bottom of the grinder

Take “the remains of the claw I took from the gallery…”

Close the drawer

In inventory, look at the 2 ‘remains (dusts)’ and mix them together

In inventory, put the 2 ‘remains (dusts)’ onto the ‘African plant leaves’ … “the leaves were now mixed with dust from a tooth and a lion’s claw”

Exit the kitchen

Go upstairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor, and again up from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor

Walk a little way along the upper hallway, and on the right see 2 doors close together

Face these 2 doors

Open the door on the right … it is the 2nd (upper) floor bathroom (under construction)

Look at the bricks in the right corner … “just a pile of old bricks”

Examine the bricks nearer to the toilet

See the small metal rod

Pick up the small metal rod

Go through the connecting door to the left of the stained glass window

Look around the workroom

Look closely at the (primus) stove on the bench

Note that one of the 3 metal supports is missing.

From inventory, fix the metal rod into the stove

From inventory, fix the lid of a can onto the 3 supports … this ‘completes’ the stove

Put the mixture (of leaves and 2 types of dust) onto the top of the stove

From inventory, take the (single) remaining match and light the stove … you obtain a ‘stone’ … “it was almost organic.”

Take the resulting stone …

In inventory, use the branch as a holder for the stone. “I attached the stone to the branch” making an amulet … “The amulet was complete now.”

Exit the workroom into the upper hallway

Descend from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor

Go to the African gallery

Enter the storeroom

From inventory take the amulet and use it on the mask … in order to exorcise its demons !!!

Exit the storeroom

Exit the African Gallery

Go down from the 1st floor to the ground floor

Go to the living room. OUCH … “I heard those horrible noises again. They just wouldn’t… stop…”

Examine the living room fireplace … the wood has been moved exposing a grating

Open the grating

Enter the opening

Go down into a “forbidden zone” … a hidden passage!

Look all around the hidden passage … there is nothing much that can be done there

However there is a heavy door there … go to it

Open the heavy door and enter “the lair”

Continue forward twice.

Look at and examine the ‘black opening’ (which is apparently the other side of the basement’s oven) … “Several bricks had been removed from this wall, resulting in a large hole.”

Look around the lair and examine the various items there … In particular examine the teddy bear

Return to the large hole

In close-up , click on this black opening

WATCH THE SINISTER PROCEEDINGS, AND OBSERVE THE END SCENES OF THE GAME ... ENJOY :~ ))

Addendum

.

This may seem like an Easter Egg but it is not. It is a small addition to the game itself which adds some minor details … but it is not essential to finishing the game:

(( You can perform the following any time, but only after 9 am on Day-3, Monday Oct 14th ))

If you have not already done so look very carefully at the General Contractors’ renovation statement inside the safe, in the master bedroom

Did you notice the telephone number at the bottom?

It is from the National Bank of Northumberland … contact number (01912) 94144

Go to the main hall ( it’s wise to save here, since otherwise you can’t participate in all of the branching options! )

Use the phone and go to “I dialed another number…”

Phone the National Bank of Northumberland … i.e. phone number (01912) 94144 … “Good day, the National Bank of Northumberland. Robert Blake speaking.”

There are two options in blue at the bottom of the screen as follows:-

“I asked about Dr. Christopher Milton…”

(Reload your save-game)

“I asked about James Blackwood…”

Follow all the various branching options (not elaborated here … in order to avoid disclosing some items of the narrative)